


Hold Onto Hope

by sarina



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:02:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28554315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarina/pseuds/sarina
Summary: An abusive ex-boyfriend attempts to make his way back into the Reader's life more than a year after they've broken up. When he starts to become more persistent she wants to take action. And when the threats become directed towards her new boyfriend, she knows she needs to.Based on various songs by the band Paramore.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Reader, Spencer Reid/You
Comments: 14
Kudos: 82





	1. Hard Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **This first chapter deals with a physically/verbally/mentally abusive and manipulative relationship**
> 
> This first chapter is a little bit of a downer, but I promise it gets better! <3 I'm going to be posting the second chapter tonight as well just so we can get this story going haha.

“What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?”

She opened her eyes groggily, rubbing the backs of her hands against them. It was almost a routine to be woken up by being screamed at.

“What’s going on?” she asked, glancing at the alarm clock on their nightstand. The white, LED lights stated it was three o’clock in the morning.

“I’m sure that’s something you’d like to know, huh? Well I have that same fucking question for _you_ ,” Adam said, turning the light on to their bedroom and stalking back towards the bed where she was now sitting up.

Her initial reaction was to cower back, but he grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back to the side of the bed he stood at.

“Do you know how fucking hurtful this is to read? When you told me that you only loved me and you were interested in me? But here I see you were talking to Penelope about another guy?” he questioned.

It took a few seconds for Y/N to piece together what was going on.

“Did you go through my phone?” she asked after realizing her phone had been taken off its charger.

“Are you seriously trying to make _me_ the bad guy in this situation? Sure, I’m the fucking bad guy. I’ll take the blame over some shit _you_ did because I guess it’s going to be my fault in some way, right?” he accused, shaking his head and he scrolled through Y/N’s cell phone.

“I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Adam scoffed and rolled his eyes, “You’re a fucking whore, that’s what’s going on.”

Even though it was something he’d often said to her, it still hit her like a punch in the gut whenever he’d say that to her. Warm tears prickled behind her eyes and she did her best to keep them contained.

“What did I do?” she asked, her voice cracking at the last word.

“You should ask Penelope. ‘Yeah he’s cute, but I don’t know. I don’t think he’d like me.’,” Adam said. “You know who the fuck this is about, don’t you? I can see it on your face. You know.”

Y/N was thinking of the conversation she and Penelope had all those months ago. She had a good idea of who they were talking about, but she knew better than to say so.

“Babe, I really don’t know. It was so long ago,” she said, attempting to shine a light on the fact that it was an old conversation that shouldn’t matter.

“It’s about Spencer. You know, the guy I _know_ you cheat on me with, but you’ll never admit to it? Well this is all the fucking proof I need,” he said, shaking his head to himself.

“Adam, please believe me. I promise I never have and never will cheat on you. I’m not that kind of person,” she said, the tears that had previously been at the back of her eyes were now at the front, threatening to spill onto her cheeks.

“You really expect me to believe that? You two have been partners for a year and when we got together I _knew_ I had to be careful. I had friends tell me, ‘Hey man, her partner’s a dude, you should watch yourself’ and I didn’t listen to them. It looks like I fucking should have,” he said.

Before she could respond, he grabbed her by the chin, forcing her gaze to his. And then something inside of her changed - she knew this was something that she didn’t need to put up with anymore. Six months of this was more than anyone deserved and it was way more than she could handle.

She grabbed onto his wrist, twisting it back so he would let go of her chin. He yelped and pulled his hand away from her before pulling his arm back and slapping her across the face with the back of his hand, the sound echoing through the room.

When her gaze met his again, she stood up and pushed him so forcefully away from her that his back hit the wall.

“I’m fucking _done_ being your punching bag, Adam,” she said, pulling her cell phone from his hand and taking her charger from the wall. “I thought maybe you’d change after a couple months, but six months of this shit is too long and I’m over it.”

She walked out of the bedroom and slipped on her shoes that were sitting near the front door, grabbing her department issued gun and badge off of the table beside the front door - making sure to grab hers and not his. Adam had been following her out of the bedroom, yelling obscenities at her, but she had tuned him out.

“Don’t call me, don’t text me, don’t _talk to me_ again,” she said, taking her FBI jacket from the hook and pulling it over her shoulders. “I’m done with you and this entire situation,” she said, using her hand to motion towards him.

“Wait, baby, I’m so sorry,” Adam said, taking a step towards her.

“Don’t,” she said, sounding more forceful towards him than she ever had before. “I’m done.”

She took the spare key for his apartment off of her keychain and tossed it on the end table beside the door.

“Since you’ve already thrown away anything meaningful or sentimental that I’ve had in my life, don’t worry about everything else I’m leaving here - clothes, toiletries… just throw them all out. I don’t care about them,” she said, unlocking the door to leave.

She was grateful that she held a career that didn’t force her to worry about monetary issues for the most part. Sure, things would be tight for the first month or so after getting a new apartment and a new wardrobe, but she knew it would all even itself out.

After shutting the door behind her, she descended the staircase and got into her car, not taking a look back towards his apartment once. The sensation of leaving Adam felt both freeing and suffocating at the same time and it was a sensation she couldn’t explain.

Y/N didn’t know where she was going until she pulled into the parking lot of a hotel that was a far enough distance away that she felt comfortable staying there. The second she put her car into park she let out a deep breath, the tears she’d been holding in the past hour began to cascade down her cheeks when she finally felt the emptiness in her chest.


	2. Lovesick Melody

***One Year Later***

The frigid temperatures of winter were no longer as flowers began to bloom and trees regained their leaves. There was still the occasional cool breeze that caused goosebumps to rise on her arms, but for the most part, the weather was just how she liked it.

Y/N let out a content sigh as she entered the Bureau, pulling her duffel bag further up on her shoulder as she jogged to catch the elevator. An arm stuck out of it to hold it and she smiled at Derek when she made it inside.

“Thanks,” she smiled, taking a sip from her nearly-empty coffee cup.

Derek chuckled and furrowed his eyebrows at her, “You’re awfully hyper for eight in the morning,” he commented.

“I wasn’t when I woke up,” Y/N admitted. “So I asked for five shots of espresso this morning and I can confidently say that was a bad idea,” she said, bouncing on her toes and taking the last swig of her coffee when the elevator reached their floor.

“Oh great, now we’ve got two Reids to deal with today,” he chuckled, motioning for her to exit the elevator before him when the doors opened.

“Shut up,” she said, shaking her head at his comment and throwing her empty cup into a trashcan they passed.

“How’s that going, by the way?” Derek asked, waving at a police officer he knew as they passed him.

“How’s what going?” she asked.

“Don’t play dumb, Y/N, you know what I’m talking about. When are you going to tell little Spencer Reid that you like him?” he asked.

“Um, probably around…” she trailed off, lifting her arm to look at her watch strapped around her wrist. “Never.”

Derek chuckled and let out a sigh, “You know he likes you too, right? It’s really obvious to everybody.”

“It may be obvious that  _ I  _ like  _ him _ ,” she said. “But he doesn’t like me.”

Y/N set her duffel bag on the floor underneath her desk and leaned down to turn on her computer before returning her attention to Derek.

“Why are you so sure he doesn’t like you?” he asked.

“Derek, I’m not his type. If I could read five thousand words a minute or speak seven languages or mentally solve trigonometry problems in ten seconds then I would have a chance,” she said, letting out a giggle when a tired Emily walked past her desk, giving her an unenthusiastic wave as she headed towards the break room to fill up her coffee mug.

“And what makes you think that’s his type?” Derek asked.

“He would get bored around someone like me. I have nothing to contribute to a conversation where he already knows everything,” she said, feeling her heart drop slightly as she broke the eye contact she had with Derek.

Derek frowned when he saw her confidence lessen, “Y/N,” he said, getting her attention again. “You’re a beautiful girl. You’re sweet, you’re funny, you’re smart - not as smart as Spencer, but come on, is anybody?”

She giggled and shook her head in response.

“You’re a great person and he knows how lucky he’d be to have you,” Derek said, smiling at Y/N’s blush and turning when he saw a figure enter the room out of the corner of his eye.

Y/N could feel the familiar tightening in her chest when she would first see Spencer for the day and smiled as he walked into the room. He looked towards Y/N’s desk and returned her smile before heading in her direction.

“If he wasn’t into you, you wouldn’t be the first person he looks for when he gets to work,” Derek pointed out.

She gave him a smile and turned to Spencer as he approached them. She could feel her entire mood shift from just  _ fine  _ to a form of happiness she wasn’t able to describe.

“Good morning, Spencer,” she smiled, ignoring the teasing smile Derek was giving her.

“Good morning, indeed,” he replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulders in the form of a quick hug. She returned the hug, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Someone looks like they woke up on the right side of the bed,” Derek said.

“I had a good night,” Spencer agreed, releasing Y/N from his hug at the same time she did. “There was a really good documentary I found about the Russian Civil War that occurred between November of 1917 and June of 1923,” he said. “And like most wars that are all either politically- or religion-based, it was majorly politically-based even though religion  _ did  _ have some underlying tones… sorry,” he said when he realized he’d begun to ramble.

“Don’t apologize, I love it,” Y/N said. “I’ve never learned about the Russian Civil War - it’s really interesting to me.”

Spencer looked down and gave her a smile, the worry that had tightened a knot in his chest about being overwhelming almost immediately disappearing.

“Well that makes one of us,” Derek said, breaking their eye contact. “I’m going to get a few files from Records before we start our briefing. I think Hotch is gonna want us in the conference room in a few minutes.”

After Derek turned to leave the conversation, Spencer focused his attention on Y/N, “I should get my things ready for our briefing. Maybe we can rain check this Russian Civil War conversation? If you don’t have any other plans tonight we could hang out if you’d want to.”

She smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

Spencer returned her smile, but before he could say anything Emily stuck her head out from the conference room.

“Hey guys, the briefing's starting. You ready?”

“This unsub is very particular in the types of women he goes after. They’re usually brunette, pale-skinned and active. Each time one of the women were abducted they were either hiking or jogging on a trail nearby their homes,” Hotch said.

“Are all of the trails nearby each other?” Emily asked as she looked over the map, marking a few things on hers.

“Yes, they’re all within a ten mile radius to each other,” Hotch answered.

“So we can assume the unsub lives in this ten mile radius. He hasn’t ventured out of it and he’s more comfortable in this area,” Spencer said.

“And that he’s probably just starting out if he’s staying close to an area he knows. Once he starts branching out he’s become more confident and comfortable with killing,” Y/N added.

“And with how similar each victim is with each other there has to be an underlying reason for it - possibly an abusive mother or an ex-girlfriend,” Rossi added, jotting down a few notes on his pages.

“Alright,” Hotch said with a nod. “Everybody pack a bag; wheels up in thirty.”

Y/N approached Spencer’s desk, smiling as she watched him holster his gun.

“I guess we’ll have to rain check that rain check for tonight?” she asked, getting a chuckle out of him.

“I suppose so,” he said. “Maybe I can bore you to death with it on the jet.”

“I don’t think that would be possible,” she said.

“That’s very sweet of you, but you don’t need to spare my feelings,” he smiled, pulling his jacket over his shoulders.

“I’m not sparing your feelings, I’m being serious,” she said, giving him a smile.

He turned to her and held eye contact momentarily - something he was never fully comfortable doing even after two years of knowing each other. Both smiled and turned towards Derek when he approached them.

“You two ready?” he asked, smirking between the two of them.

“We are,” Y/N smiled, turning to Derek.

“Oh, you’ve got the missus speaking for you now, Reid?” Derek asked, smacking his friend’s arm. Before either of them could respond, Derek walked away with a chuckle.

Y/N and Spencer glanced at each other and chuckled awkwardly, blush spreading across both of their cheeks and noses.

“Lead the way,” Spencer finally said, extending his arms out in front of them.


	3. crushcrushcrush

Crunching leaves and twigs beneath their feet echoed while their breathing was labored as they ran towards the small, abandoned shack in the middle of the forest - no more than a mile off the main road.

“Cover me,” Y/N said, opening the door and drawing her gun as she stepped inside of the shack.

Spencer followed closely behind her and drew his gun as well, keeping his back towards hers as they began to clear the shack.

The interior of the small space was filthy and nearly filled to the brim with old boxes and random antiques. A thick layer of dust covered the tops of everything inside and the scent of the pine trees outside was barely noticeable over the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke that had embedded itself into the curtains, couch and any other fabric.

The sound of a bottle being kicked caused Y/N to turn sharply and face the direction Spencer was.

“FBI, drop the gun,” Spencer said in a firm tone, pointing his gun towards their unsub.

The middle-aged man stepped out of the shadows, holding the teenage girl they’d been looking for by her throat with a handgun to her head.

“Timothy,” Y/N said sternly, “You need to let her go and drop the gun.”

He was clearly overwhelmed - his hand that was holding the gun was shaking and his grip around the young girl’s throat tightened as he shook his head quickly.

“Uh uh,” he said, “You’re going to let me go with her or I’m going to blow her brains out.”

Quiet sobs ripped through the girl’s throat as tears flooded from her eyes. She looked to Y/N and Spencer, begging them to help her with a single look.

“Okay, okay,” Spencer said, holding his hands up and lowering his gun to the ground.

Although everything in her body was telling her not to, Y/N followed suit and lowered her own gun to the ground.

“Timothy, we know you’ve been hurt before. And we know your mother wasn’t nice to you, was she?” Spencer asked, gun still in his hand as he moved slowly to set it down.

“I’m not talking about this,” Timothy said, shaking his head.

“You don’t have to, Timothy. We just want you to know that what happened to you isn’t your fault and it never will be,” Spencer said, standing back up slowly.

Y/N kept her eyes fixated on Timothy while he and Spencer spoke, ready to reach down for her gun the second he made a wrong move.

“I don’t want to hear this - I just want to leave.  _ We  _ just want to leave,” Timothy said, eyes beginning to fill with tears as he thought about Spencer’s words.

“I know you do, Timothy. But hurting and torturing women who remind you of your mother isn’t going to alleviate any of the pain she caused you. I know you’re hurt and you want to do anything to make yourself feel better, but you know deep down that hurting these girls only makes you feel worse,” Spencer said.

Timothy let a tear fall onto his cheek and loosened his grip on the girl in his arms. He had the look almost every unsub had when they were at the point of giving in and surrendering.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said.

“Timothy, my name is Spencer. I want to help you out and so does my partner,” he said, motioning to Y/N. “The only way we’re going to be able to help you, though, is if you put the gun down and let the girl go.”

Timothy shook his head, “You guys are gonna shoot me if I put the gun down.”

“No we aren’t,” Spencer said, shaking his head. “I promise you that we aren’t going to shoot you.”

There were a few moments of silence where Spencer and Timothy looked at each other - the eye contact was intense and it was as if they were having an unspoken conversation. A sigh left Timothy’s lips moments later and the sound of metal clanging on the ground echoed through the small shack when he dropped the gun.

The teenage girl being held hostage was released from his grip and immediately ran into Y/N’s arms when Spencer began to handcuff Timothy.

“We’re good. Need a medic for the girl,” Y/N said into her radio that was attached to her lapel, noticing a large gash at the victim’s hairline.

It took no more than five seconds for the rest of the team to enter the shack from where they’d been waiting outside.

“Good work, you two,” Aaron said as he surveyed the scene before him.

Derek picked up the gun Timothy had dropped onto the ground and sealed it in a bag while the rest of the team searched the shack for more victims.

“Thank you, Hotch, but this was all Spencer. He did great,” Y/N said, giving her partner a proud smile.

Spencer could feel the blush warming the back of his neck and cheeks as he handed Timothy to a patrol officer. He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged.

“Couldn’t have done it without my partner,” he said, the awkward smile on his lips making her giggle.

Hours had passed before the team was all reunited on the jet, ready to head back home and get a few hours of sleep in their own beds. Yawns began to fill the small seating area of the jet, creating a ripple effect through the cabin.

Spencer smiled when Y/N took a seat next to him - her tired eyes met his and she gave him a smile of her own, happy to still be able to sit next to him after another successful assignment. She rubbed her eyes briefly and looked down at her cell phone to begin putting it on silent.

Without warning, a hand appeared in front of her face and the surprise of it had sent her flinching back so forcefully that the back of her head hit the headrest on the seat. Spencer pulled his hand back quickly, momentarily believing he’d hurt her.

“I’m sorry, you just have an eyelash on your cheek. I was going to get it off for you,” he explained.

“Oh,” Y/N said, giving him a smile and shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to brush off what had happened. She rubbed both of her cheeks and eventually got the eyelash off after a few seconds.

“Sorry about that,” she continued. “I just get a little jumpy when I’m tired.”

It was the most unconvincing lie Spencer had ever heard from her, but he knew it was best to not press her for any details - if she wanted to talk to him about it, she would.

“I was thinking… do you have any way to look up that Russian Civil War documentary?” Y/N asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.

Spencer smiled, “Are you saying you want to revoke our rain checks?”

“Only for a few minutes. I’ll probably fall asleep soon, but I’d like to start it if you want to watch it again,” she said.

He kept the same smile on his face and nodded, taking Y/N’s phone when she placed it in his hand. After a quick search, he’d found the documentary online and set it up, offering a headphone as he put one of his own in. She smiled at him and took it gratefully, moving closer to him so they were both able to see the screen of the phone after he’d set in on the tray in front of them.

“Don’t feel bad if you fall asleep, this can get pretty boring at times,” Spencer said.

Y/N looked at him and smiled before turning her attention back to her phone screen.

“That just means we’ll have to start it over again,” she teased.

Y/N was correct when she said that she’d fall asleep soon - she was out within the first five minutes of the documentary. Spencer felt the weight of her body relax against his and knew that she was out for the rest of the jet ride. Carefully, he pulled her headphone out of her ear and turned off the documentary, setting both her phone and his headphones down on the tray in front of them.

Spencer grabbed his jacket from the empty seat on the other side of him and brought it around his body, wrapping Y/N up in it. She cuddled herself closer against his body and he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face when she did.

“Look at that - our little Spencer Reid is growing up,” Derek said from his seat across the aisle, getting the attention of the rest of the team.

“Oh my goodness, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Penelope said, taking a photo of the partners on her phone.

Spencer rolled his eyes, “Come on, guys, she’s sleeping,” he said, not wanting to wake her.

“They do this after every assignment,” Emily told Penelope, ignoring Spencer’s previous comment.

She placed a hand on her chest and looked back to Spencer with what he could only describe as a motherly look. “Be still my heart, that is adorable.”

“When did you two start dating?” Rossi asked, giving Derek a smirk - both of them enjoying the relentless teasing towards Spencer.

“We’re not dating,” Spencer said, looking down at Y/N to make sure she hadn’t been woken up.

“I don’t know why you don’t tell her, man. She likes you too,” Derek said.

“Yeah, okay,” Spencer said, unconvinced at his friend’s words.

“You don’t have to believe me. That should speak for itself,” Derek said, motioning to Y/N when she began snuggling deeper into Spencer’s body, nuzzling her face against his neck and wrapping an arm around his body.

Spencer smiled and wrapped the arm that she was laying on around her body to make sure she was more comfortable and pulled his jacket up higher on her body. He’d be lying if he said this wasn’t the most comfortable he’d felt in years. Holding Y/N while she slept and feeling her warm breathing against his neck while the cold tip of her nose pressed against his skin… it was something he knew he could do every day.


	4. Looking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just pure 100% fluff. If that's not your thing, I apologize, but I can't help myself. I hope you all enjoy!

The slight turbulence on the jet caused Spencer to wake up before Y/N. He yawned quietly and stretched as best as he could without moving too much of his body. Even though it was probably a good time to start getting ready to get off the jet, he wanted to make sure she got as much sleep as possible.

It wasn’t until the jet began landing that Y/N woke up. She groaned quietly and rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Penelope said when she heard Y/N yawn.

“G’morning,” she mumbled, moving her head from Spencer’s shoulder. He chuckled and stretched his arm forward for the first time since waking up.

“Thank you for being my human pillow,” Y/N said, giving him a smile when he looked at her.

He returned her smile, “Anytime.”

“Alright lovebirds, let’s get off of this thing so we can all go home,” Derek said, standing up and pulling his backpack over his shoulder, his headphones draped around his neck as he exited the jet.

It didn’t take long for everyone to get their things collected at their desks and begin to head out for the night - saying a quick ‘bye’, knowing that they’d be seeing each other again in a few hours.

“I’ll walk you to your car if you’d like,” Spencer offered after stepping out of the elevator with Y/N.

“That’s really sweet, thank you,” she smiled, leading the way to her vehicle that was parked a few spaces down from his.

“You know,” she continued as they walked out of the building and into the parking lot. “You did really good on our assignment earlier. The way you can connect with people… I don’t know how you do it, but it’s so amazing.”

Spencer smiled and looked down at his shoes while they walked, just for a moment, before looking back at her.

“Thank you,” he said. “Sometimes I worry I connect with our unsubs  _ too  _ well. Like it should say something about me.”

Y/N raised her eyebrows at his remark, surprised by his vulnerability that he typically kept to himself. She turned to him when they reached her vehicle and looked up to meet his gaze. His eyes were tired with a hint of worry in them as he thought about what he’d just said. She knew a few details from his personal life as any partner would after working together for two years, but she knew there was much more to him than he’d shared.

“I think it says that you have an amazing sense of empathy. You know how to help people and guide people without force and it shows how perfect you are for this job,” Y/N said.

Spencer smiled with one side of his mouth and let out a quiet sigh - there was a tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach and he wanted to make it stop, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to.

“I guess I should let you get going. I don’t want you to fall asleep while you’re driving,” he said.

“That’s probably a good idea,” she smiled, standing on her toes and wrapping her arms around his neck.

He let out a content sigh and wrapped his arms around her waist, angling his head downwards.

“Thank you,” he whispered against her hair.

She knew what he was thanking her for and she didn’t need an explanation.

“You’re welcome,” she said, her lips brushing the skin of his neck and leaving goosebumps in their wake.

He smiled and held her tighter for a moment, wanting to stay in that position for as long as possible before it became too awkward. They pulled away from the hug, but left their arms around each other, glancing at each other’s lips before pulling back completely.

“Have a good night,” Y/N said, pulling her keys from her bag that was slung over her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Spencer said, clearing his throat, “You too.”

After getting into her car, Y/N let out a loud sigh and leaned back against her seat, closing her eyes momentarily. She wanted to back back in Spencer’s arms again and nuzzle herself against his body - being with him felt so comfortable… so right.

It hadn’t registered in her mind that she’d begun calling him until the dial tone echoed through her speaker and her phone was pressed against her ear.

“Hello?” Spencer’s confused voice answered. It sounded like he was still walking to his car.

“Hey,” Y/N said. “I’m going to say something and you don’t need to respond, I just need to tell you or I’m going to go insane.”

“Okay,” he said, confusion still thick in his tone.

She let out a sigh, taking a few deep breaths in as she watched her free hand shake in front of her as she held it up.

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you’re not comfortable.”

“I like you,” she spit out. “Of course I like you - we’re partners. But I like you more than a partner and I like you more than a friend, Spencer. I love falling asleep on your shoulder after assignments, I love hugging you and I love being around you. You make everything feel so much better.”

“Y/N--”

“I’m sorry I randomly unloaded all of this on you, I needed to get it off my chest because I knew if I didn’t I was going to explode.”

A knock on her driver’s side window startled her, but a sense of immediate calm washed over her when she saw it was Spencer who was standing outside.

“Can you please come out here?” he asked.

She let out a quiet breath and nodded, “Yeah,” she said into the phone before ending the call.

Stepping out of the car was terrifying, but with Spencer around, everything became easier. She closed the door behind her and looked up at him with visible worry on her features. He gave her a small smile and began to move his hand upwards, showing her he had no intentions of being aggressive towards her.

“Is it okay if I hold onto the side of your face?” he asked, not wanting to repeat what had happened on the jet.

“Yeah,” she said, giving him a small smile.

Even though she had prepared for it, Y/N flinched slightly and Spencer was convinced he wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t scrutinizing every inch of her face as intently as he was. He rubbed his thumb against her cheek gently, running circles over her soft skin before beginning to lean in. He watched her face for any signs of hesitation, preparing to stop if he saw them. Her eyes fluttered closed just before their noses skimmed each other’s and Spencer followed suit before pressing his lips to hers.

It was the feeling of a cool drink of water after being stuck in the middle of a desert for five days. It was everything he wanted and more. Her soft lips moved with his, her fingernails scratching delicately against his chest.

They broke their kiss seconds later, staring into each other’s eyes. There was a silent agreement between the two that yes, they liked the kiss and yes, they wanted to continue.

Y/N moved her hands from his chest to wrap around his neck while Spencer moved his hands to her hips. She pulled his mouth against hers again, moaning quietly when he pushed her back against her car. This kiss deepened immediately, Spencer running his tongue over her lower lip and Y/N biting on his, eliciting a noise from him she wanted to hear again and again.

When they pulled away from this kiss it was a mess of heavy breathing and tousled hair. Y/N arched against the thigh he’d pushed between her legs during their kiss and she smiled when she felt his mirrored excitement against her own thigh.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, a shy smile on his face while his cheeks tinted red.

“Hey,” she said, grabbing the sides of his face and turning his head so he faced her. “It’s the same for me, just not as obvious.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding proud of himself.

“Yes, really,” she smiled, pulling him in for another kiss. She stopped it from deepening any further.

With all of her heart she knew that she wanted him to herself for the night - multiple times. But she knew it would be better if they took things slower.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Spencer said, rubbing his thumbs against the exposed skin of her back.

“If it’s as long as I’ve wanted to, I’m upset at how much time we’ve wasted,” Y/N said, only half serious.

“I am too,” he said, leaning down to press another gentle kiss to her lips, then to her forehead, smiling against her skin when he felt her fingers dig into his shoulders.

She pulled back and smiled up at him, letting a giggle fall from her lips. He smiled and moved a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

“What?” he asked with a smile.

“Dibs on not telling Hotch about this,” she said.

Spencer chuckled and shook his head, leaning back down to press another kiss to her lips. “You’re cruel.”


	5. Careful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last super fluffy chapter for a while! I hope I've soaked you all in it enough so you won't miss it ;)

One week. One week of sneaky kisses in the break room before anybody else could walk in. One week of quick touches that the rest of the team definitely caught, but neither Spencer or Y/N gave too much thought to. One week of working up the courage to tell Aaron, but chickening out at the last second.

“You know,” Aaron said. “There’s been a bet going on between a few members of the team as to whether or not this would happen,” he said as he waited for the human resources documents to finish printing out.

“I’m sure Morgan’s in on it,” Spencer said.

“And Garcia,” Y/N added.

Aaron chuckled and pulled the papers off the printer, organizing them in his hands before setting them on his desk and turning them so they faced the couple.

“These are the human resources’ policies about workplace relationships,” he began. “Essentially, I have the final say on whether or not a relationship is appropriate, but there are some basic rules.”

Both Y/N and Spencer leaned forward to look over the documents. There weren’t too many rules and none of them seemed unfair.

“Obviously we can’t have this affecting your work. If it does turn into a situation where your work  _ is  _ being affected we will have to look at reassigning one of you to a different team,” he continued, taking two pens from the holder on his desk and clicking them open. “Y/N, you know I appreciate everything you do for the team and how valuable you are to the rest of us, but if needed, you will be reassigned.”

She nodded, “I understand, Sir.”

“The way the two of you interact with each other after assignments on the jet is perfectly fine with me. I know we’re all exhausted and possibly shaken up from things just being seen so if you want that comfort of another person, I encourage that,” he said, setting the pens down beside the document.

“On that same note, however, we can’t have any overly-obsessive PDA. A kiss here and there is fine, hugs are fine… you’re both adults and I think you understand what I’m talking about.”

“Yes, we do,” Spencer said, Y/N nodding beside him.

Aaron smiled, “Good,” he said. “All you need to do is sign anywhere on this page to acknowledge you understand the policies.”

Both Spencer and Y/N sign their names at the bottom of the page and set the pens back down on the desk. Aaron took the documents back and put them into both of his employees’ respective files.

“Now,” he said, standing up to return their files to the cabinet behind his desk. “Do you have any questions for me?”

“Just a quick observation,” Spencer said. “You seem much more calm about this than I anticipated you’d be.”

“Did you expect me to yell at the two of you?” Aaron asked.

“No, but just be a little more concerned, I suppose,” Spencer said.

“Well,” Aaron began, “To be completely transparent with the two of you… I’ve seen the way you act with each other and I assumed you were in a relationship already and were trying to keep it quiet.”

Spencer nodded. It explained why he didn’t seem very surprised when they told him.

“Also,” he continued. “I’m about to get fifty dollars from Rossi because my end of the bet won.”

“Wow,” Y/N smirked. “I never pegged you as the kind of boss to participate in workplace banter.”

“There are some bets I know I’m going to win and I go all in on them,” he smiled. “Do the two of you have any other questions?”

Both shook their heads and Aaron stood from his desk, walking behind them to open the door so they could leave. When the door swung open, all members of the team quickly turned their heads back to their computer monitors or documents on their desks.

“Good luck,” he said with a chuckle.

Y/N giggled and walked out of the office with Spencer at her side, “Thank you, Hotch,” she smiled.

Spencer chuckled while doing his work when Derek rolled his chair towards his desk, stopping just beside him and looking at him expectantly.

“So… what were you talking about in Hotch’s office with Y/N?” Derek asked, causing Spencer to glance up from the evidence bag he was rifling through.

He looked back down towards the bag before answering. “Just the last assignment - wanting to make sure we’re okay.”

“You’re lying,” Derek said. “You have a tell.”

Spencer looked at Derek then, dropping the journal he’d pulled from the bag on his desk. “What do you think my tell is?”

Derek smiled and pointed at Spencer, “That. If you weren’t lying you wouldn’t have done that.”

Spencer sighed and set the bag of evidence down on his desk, grabbing the journal as he began flipping through it.

“I wish you weren’t so good at your job,” he muttered, making Derek chuckle.

“Seriously. What was it about? What did Hotch need to talk to you two about?” Derek asked. As soon as the words left his mouth his eyes widened and he looked at Spencer with an excited smile.

Spencer glanced up at his friend when there was a brief moment of silence.

“You did it, didn’t you?” Derek asked. “You two are dating, aren’t you?”

Spencer shut the journal and set it down on his desk, “Can you keep it down? We’re trying to keep it quiet for a little bit.”

Derek disregarded his friend’s comment and shook his head to himself, the wide smile still on his face. “I’m really happy for you, man, that’s awesome. I told you she was into you. I was right, wasn’t I?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Spencer chuckled, blush tinting his cheeks.

As if her timing was straight out of a romantic comedy movie on the Hallmark channel, Y/N approached the side of Spencer’s desk opposite Derek and leaned against it.

“Hey Spence, do you have that journal Lacey Holly wrote in two hours before she was murdered?” she asked, smiling when he handed it to her.

“Hi Derek,” she smiled at him after seeing him.

“Hi Y/N,” he replied, a cheeky smile on his face as he looked between the couple.

“You told him?” she asked, gently smacking Spencer’s shoulder with the journal he’d just handed her.

He raised his hands defensively, “I really didn’t have to - he already knew.”

Y/N giggled and rubbed the area of his shoulder she’d smacked with the journal, tracing a sneaky finger along the sensitive skin of his neck and making him shiver.

“You two are in that puppy love phase of your relationship and it’s adorable,” Derek said, smirking between them.

Spencer rolled his eyes and smiled, “Was there something else you needed?”

“Other than to bother you? No,” Derek replied, pushing himself back from Spencer’s desk and rolling himself back to his own.

Y/N giggled, getting Spencer’s attention. “I should probably get back and finish up some work,” she said, glancing at her desk before looking back at her boyfriend.

“I want to kiss you so badly,” he said, fingers tracing along her thigh.

She bit her lower lip and smiled, “I want that too,” she said. “Why don’t we get dinner and watch a movie tonight?”

He nodded, unable to keep the smile off his face, “Do you want to meet at the theater around seven?” he asked. “We can get dinner afterwards.”

“Is that a trick question?” she smirked, quickly grabbing onto his hand and lacing their fingers together, giving his hand a squeeze. “Of course I do.”

She pulled back and stood up straight, letting go of his hand. “Let me know if you need anything,” she said.

“I’ll make a list,” he smirked, chuckling when she gave him a wink before turning around and walking back to her desk to look over the evidence he’d given her.


	6. Here We Go Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here we go with the actual story rather than just the fluff (which I love writing, but we also need story)! <3 :)

“This case is going to be local, for the most part. All of our victims were found in Washington D.C. and we believe that the unsub lives in the D.C. metropolitan area as well,” Aaron said as he introduced the briefing. “All three victims are women who recently left the prostitution ring after wanting to start forming serious relationships.”

“Our unsub could be a disgruntled customer who wanted to keep seeing them and got upset when they took themselves out of the business,” Rossi said.

“I don’t know,” Emily spoke up. “Could also be a disgruntled boss.”

“Or the new partners,” Spencer said. “Maybe the realization of a previous prostitution past didn’t sit well with them and they lashed out.”

Y/N could feel a sting in her chest after hearing him say that and the slight change in her demeanor and facial expression was not lost on him.

“Our unsub is most likely someone who isn’t able to hold down a job or a relationship and is very lonely. Possibly suffering from bipolar disorder,” JJ said, looking over the crime scene photos of the victims.

“And most likely male with a control complex,” Spencer added. “The unsub has the same tactic of chloroforming them, grabbing the victim by the chin so forcefully that bruises are left behind, then beating them and killing them. He’s got a method down already.”

“There’s no fingerprints or DNA left behind on the victims even though he was touching them. He knows what he’s doing if he’s covering his tracks - could be someone in law enforcement,” Derek said.

“Since all the victims are prostitutes the unsub might think of it as practice. Usually a killer thinks it’s a safe bet to go after prostitutes… no family, not many friends and they feel like they can’t come to law enforcement for help out of fear of getting in trouble themselves,” Y/N adds.

Aaron nodded after listening to the team communicate with each other and handed a few files to Garcia. “Can you run information on each of these victims and see if they have any of the same people connected to them?”

“I’ll be back in record time,” she replied with a quick nod, hurrying out of the room with the files in hand.

Y/N and Spencer sat at his desk together, looking over various pictures and documents related to their three most current victims and scouring for clues.

“I noticed the way you changed when I was talking during our briefing,” Spencer commented as he flipped through some documents.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at him - she hadn’t realized her body language had changed.

“I didn’t realize it was that obvious,” she said, letting out a quiet sigh.

Spencer looked up to meet her gaze and set down the documents he was flipping through.

“You can talk to me,” he said, placing a hand on her knee and rubbing his thumb against it.

She smiled and shook her head, “You don’t have to worry about it, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You don’t have to bottle anything up around me,” Spencer said. “I want to make sure we communicate with each other.”

Y/N let out a sigh and smiled at him, reaching forward and running her fingers through his hair before letting her hand fall onto his thigh.

“It’s just… when you said that having a past could make a partner lash out,” she began, looking at him. He nodded, telling her to continue. “I’ve been with other people before you and I don’t want that to be something that makes you see me differently.”

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows, “Why would that make me see you differently?”

She shrugged, “I don’t want you to think I was a whore or something.”

“For starters, I would never degrade you like that,” he said, taking her hand that was on his thigh in both of his. “And second, what you did in that aspect of your life before we got together isn’t any of my business. All I care about is that I’m the only person you want to be with and are with now.”

Y/N didn’t allow the tears she felt behind her eyes to come forward, but she did smile at Spencer and used her free hand to wrap around his neck as she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. She could feel him smile against her lips before she pulled back and returned his smile.

“Hey lovebirds,” Derek said as he approached Spencer’s desk. “I hate to interrupt your PDA, but…” he trailed off when he sensed the atmosphere and looked at Y/N’s watery eyes.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, looking between the couple with furrowed brows.

Spencer smiled and nodded, “We just needed to clear something up. I think everything’s good now?” he asked, looking at Y/N.

She nodded and smiled, squeezing his hand, “Perfect.”

“Good to hear,” Derek smiled. “I was going to say that me and Em are going to go talk to a couple of the partners’ of our victims. Do you think you guys could talk to their boss and one of the girlfriends?”

“Yeah, of course,” Y/N said, taking the documents as Derek handed them to her.

“Perfect,” he said. “Thanks, you two. Call me when you’re done so we can compare.”

“You got it, boss,” Spencer said, earning a smack on the back of the head from Derek.

Both laughed with each other and Y/N smiled at the interaction before standing up and adjusting the holster on her waist.

“Are you ready to go bother a grieving girlfriend and boss who will ultimately be way too busy to talk to us?” she asked, giving Spencer a smirk.

“Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve done it and it won’t be the last,” he smiled, standing up beside her and following her out of the building.

When a person thought of a typical prositution ring, they were filthy and grimy. However, the room that Y/N and Spencer found themselves standing in was almost pristine. The carpet was vacuumed, the walls were white and there was no dust on any of the shelving units. If it wasn’t known that it was a postitution ring, Y/N would have believed they were in a doctor’s office.

“Why would I tell a couple’a cops anything about my business?” Jerry asked, putting his cigarette out in the ashtray at the corner of his desk.

“We know you’re running a prostitution ring, but that’s not our main concern. All of your girls are over eighteen and it’s consensual. If either of those things were different we’d be stepping in. We just want information about a few of your employees,” Spencer said.

Jerry sighed and nodded, “What do you want to know?”

Y/N stepped forward and began setting down photos on his desk, “Vanessa Graham, Shara Williams and Tamiko Ngyuen,” she said, pointing at each of the girls’ pictures when saying their names. “Is there anybody that bought time with all three of them or a regular customer who requested them personally?”

He sighed as he looked at the photos and shook his head, “The girls only do threesomes if they’re comfortable with it and none of them ever did any.”

“Are there any connecting threads between them? Did they come from the same hometown? Same places they liked to go when they weren’t working?” Spencer asked.

“They liked to get breakfast at Don’s Diner when they were finished with their shifts in the morning, but a lot of my girls do that,” Jerry said.

“Where’s Don’s Diner?” Spencer asked.

“About a half mile north of here,” Jerry said. “I think it’s on the west side of the road.”

Y/N nodded, “Thank you for your time - you’ve been very helpful.”

She picked up the photos she’d laid out on his desk and turned to leave the room with Spencer at her side.

“Cops,” Jerry called out before they could leave. They turned to see him looking distraught as he gave them a pleading look. “Please get whoever did this to them.”

“We’re doing our best. We’ll let you know if we find anything out,” Spencer said, giving him a sympathetic smile before both he and Y/N left the building.


	7. This Circle

They walked up the brick stairs that led to the front door of the house and Y/N waited as Spencer knocked on the wooden door. The door opened slowly and a woman poked her head out. There were dark bags underneath her eyes and her hair was in a ponytail with small strands sticking out in every direction.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Lainey Hartman?” Y/N asked, reaching to her belt to unclip her badge so she could show it.

“Yeah?” she echoed her earlier question, furrowing her eyebrows.

“My name is Y/N Y/L/N, I’m with the FBI. This is my partner, Dr. Spencer Reid,” she said, showing Lainey her badge.

Lainey nodded and sniffled, opening her door wider, “Come in,” she said, turning around and walking back inside of the home.

Tissues covered the coffee table and couches, plates and silverware littered the counters and newspapers and magazines cluttered the floor. A musky smell enveloped them as they walked inside and Y/N felt immediate empathy towards her.

“I’m sorry - I didn’t know you guys were coming… I would’ve cleaned more,” Lainey said, wiping a few used tissues off of the furniture and onto the floor.

“No need to apologize,” Spencer said, standing behind the couch while Y/N sat down on it.

“What can I do for you?” Lainey asked.

“We have a few questions about Tamiko,” Y/N said.

Lainey nodded. Although she knew  _ why  _ the FBI was in her home, hearing the name of her deceased girlfriend caused her eyes to well with tears. She reached forward and grabbed the tissue box off the coffee table, holding it between her knees and pulling a tissue out of it.

“We know how horrible of a situation this is to go through and we’re very sorry,” Y/N said.

“Yeah,” she said in a monotone.

“Do you mind answering a few questions about her?” Y/N asked.

Lainey nodded, “What do you want to know?”

“Do you know if there was anybody who didn’t like Tamiko? A disgruntled customer from her past or anybody like that?” Y/N asked.

Lainey thought for a moment before shaking her head, “No. Everybody loves… loved her when they met her,” she said, wiping her eyes with the tissue in her hands.

“Take your time,” Y/N said, reaching forward and placing a hand on one of Lainey’s.

“S-she didn’t deserve this,” Lainey said, a sob ripping through her throat as she buried her face in the tissue. “She was so young and full of life and love… I was going to propose next month… we were planning our life together…”

Y/N squeezed Lainey’s hand and rubbed circles against her skin with the pad of her thumb.

“I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through,” she said as Lainey continued to cry. “You’re being so strong just by talking to us and I need you to know how much we appreciate this,” Y/N added, pulling her hand back when Lainey blew her nose in another tissue.

“I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful right now,” Lainey said, shaking her head. “Everything is still hitting me hard.”

Y/N nodded, “We understand.”

“Do you have, maybe, like a phone number or something so I can call you if I can think of anything?” Lainey sniffled, looking between Y/N and Spencer.

“Absolutely,” Y/N said, reaching into one of her side pockets and pulling out one of her contact cards. “This is my card,” she said, handing it to Lainey. “Call me when you think of anything you’d want to talk about. Leave a message if I’m not able to answer, okay?”

“Okay,” Lainey nodded and wiped her nose with her tissue, standing from her chair after Y/N stood from the couch. “Thank you, officers.”

It was easier to leave the home than it was to enter it - Y/N knew it was because of how morose the atmosphere in the house was, but she couldn’t blame Lainey at all. There’s no telling how she would act if she was in her position.

“Are you ready to head back?” Spencer asked, opening the passenger door for Y/N.

She smiled and thanked him, stepping inside, “And yes, absolutely.”

He smiled and shut her door before walking around the car to get into the driver’s seat. There was a momentary silence as he started the car and pulled out of the parking spot he was in.

“You’re really good at talking to people,” he spoke up after a few seconds.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and smiled, “Thank you.”

“I’m not good at talking to people in those situations,” he continued. “I’m better at talking people down in the moment while we’re on an assignment… you’re better at empathizing.”

“I guess that means we make a good team,” she smiled, looking over at him.

“I’d have to agree,” he smiled back, reaching over to the passenger side of the vehicle and taking her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.

Y/N looked at him and smiled, giving his hand a squeeze and not letting it go until they made it back to Quantico.

Everybody was buzzing with the notes they’d collected after meeting with different people in relation to the case being worked on. It was clear that none of the partners of the victims as well as their boss had any involvement in the deaths, but it only seemed to frustrate everybody.

“Well then where do we go from here?” Derek asked with a sigh, looking over a list of more possible suspects.

“Not to worry, gorgeous, Penelope Garcia is here to save the day,” she said, walking into the conference room with a few files in her arms.

The quiet chatter between everybody quickly silenced when Penelope took the position front and center with her findings.

“So,” she began. “Obviously as you were saying, all of the partners and the boss man check out. Which is correct - all of their alibis are solid. However, within the past six months, all three of our victims were arrested for prostitution,” Garcia said, showing the girls’ mugshot photos.

“All three of the girls filed complaints towards the arresting officer for making unwanted sexual advances and being very rough and aggressive towards them after they denied him. So not only were they all arrested within a six month-long period, they were all arrested by the  _ same  _ officer and filed very similar complaints about him,” she continued.

Y/N felt as if somebody had kicked her in the gut and she wasn’t able to catch her breath when she saw the next photo Garcia presented on the screen.

“Adam Orozco. He’s a newer D.C. patrol officer - only been with the department for four years, but he has a few complaints in his file from female officers who say he approaches them when they have very obviously expressed disinterest and he gets very upset when they reject him. There’s also a complaint filed by his most recent ex-girlfriend who claims that he was mentally and emotionally abusive as well as physical on occasion.”

The burning feeling of all eyes in the room fixated on her wasn’t something Y/N was able to ignore. She could feel her face burning underneath her skin and all she wanted to do was run out of the room and never return.

“I-I’m not the one who filed the complaint,” she said, her eyes involuntarily welling with tears.

“Y/N,” Emily said, her tone motherly as she reached forward and took one of her hands in both of hers. “Was he like that towards you?”

There was a lump in Y/N’s throat that wasn’t allowing her to swallow and she shook her head to herself, clearing her throat. Thoughts of Adam previously grabbing her by the chin and hitting her while calling her names flooding her mind.

“I don’t… I don’t want to talk about this,” she said, pushing her seat back from the table.

“Y/N,” Rossi said, the tone of his voice indicated he wanted her to stay in the room.

She shook her head, “I need a few minutes,” she said, walking out of the room and finding the nearest door to escape out of.

Y/N had been sitting in the empty stairwell for no longer than ten minutes before the sound of an upstairs door caused her to look up. Although it didn’t reflect on her face, she was grateful to see Spencer walking down the stairs to her.

He paused when he reached the bottom of the stairs and was only a few feet from her. “Can I sit with you?” he asked, his voice echoing in the narrow stairwell.

She nodded and immediately snuggled herself against his side when he sat beside her. There was a comfortable silence that filled the atmosphere around them.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Adam. And I’m sorry I just left like that, I probably pissed everybody off,” she began to ramble.

“Hey, hey,” Spencer said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. And nobody’s upset with you - they’re all worried, actually.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at him, “Why?”

“Because they care about you,” he said as if the answer were obvious.

She gave him a weak smile.

“I do too, you know,” he added.

“You do, what?” she asked.

“Care about you… a lot,” he said. “I care about you a lot,” he repeated.

Y/N shook her head and broke eye contact with him, looking down at the cement they were sitting on. “You shouldn’t.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, leaning back so that he could get eye contact with her again.

“I’m partly responsible for those women being dead,” she said, eyes welling with tears as she bit her lower lip to keep from sobbing out loud.

“Y/N, you didn’t do anything to hurt them,” he said.

“Really, Spencer? Because Adam used to hit me all the time. He used to grab me by my chin just like he did to all three of our victims and he used to mentally and verbally abuse me like he did to the girlfriend that filed the complaint about him,” Y/N said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

Spencer kept his arm around her shoulders while she vented and let her continue - he knew how much she needed this.

“If I had done something or said something after I left him he would’ve gotten fired. He wouldn’t have been in a position where he would be able to hurt anybody else. He might’ve gotten some jail time…” she trailed off, wiping her cheeks with the palms of her hands.

“If I would have said something those women would still be alive,” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around her knees as she pulled them to her chest.

Spencer remained beside her and rubbed her shoulders comfortingly as she leaned against him and continued to cry quietly. He pressed delicate kisses to the top of her head and waited until her cries turned into quiet hiccups before speaking.

“Can I say something?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she muttered, nodding her head against his shoulder.

Spencer moved her head from his shoulder and used his thumb to wipe stray tears from her cheeks. He could feel his heart throb when she initially flinched away from him. He left his hand against the soft skin of her cheek as he spoke.

“Y/N, none of those complaints against Adam were taken seriously. A couple of them were years old and they show that he was  _ talked to _ about the situation, but nothing else happened. He would have gotten away with anything you accused him of,” Spencer said.

She shook her head and let out a sigh, “I don’t know.”

“I do,” he said.

The confidence in his voice caused the crushing feeling in her chest to lessen slightly and she sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. Another silence enveloped the atmosphere around them before Y/N spoke up again.

“I care about you a lot too, you know,” she said.

Spencer smiled and turned his head to press a kiss to the top of her head, “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this chapter! Thank you so much for reading <3 :)  
> I never like creating Mary Sue type characters so I hope nobody feels conflicted with the Reader character. Nobody's perfect!
> 
> Have a lovely day! <3


	8. Escape Route

The sickeningly sweet bouquet of flowers intruded most of her desk space and she furrowed her eyebrows as she looked it over. Spencer wasn’t the kind of boyfriend to buy her a bouquet of flowers and leave it on her desk - he would present them to her and kiss her while he did.

“Oh my, did our little Spencer Reid get you some flowers?” Garcia asked from behind Y/N.

She smiled, but shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said, taking a pair of latex gloves from her desk and pulling them onto her hands.

The small, rectangular piece of cardstock that was sitting on top of the rose in the center of the bouquet was ominous enough to be straight out of a horror movie.

“What’s going on here?” Aaron asked as he approached Y/N’s desk.

“I don’t know what this is, but I know Spencer didn’t do this,” she said, taking the note from the top of the bouquet.

Her chest began to tighten as she read the note that was written in Adam's handwriting. The note itself was surprising, however, as it was one that came off as being apologetic.

_The way things ended are not how they should have. Can we please try again?_

Aaron looked at the bouquet cautiously after listening to Y/N read the note aloud.

“Bring that into the conference room, we’re going to have everyone weigh in on it when we talk about the case,” he said, motioning to the bouquet.

Spencer took his normal seat beside Y/N when he entered the conference room, pressing a kiss to her cheek as he sat down beside her.

“How are you feeling this morning?” he asked as everyone began settling into the room.

“Weird,” she said, glancing at the gaudy, glass vase that held the enormous bouquet. “That was on my desk this morning and it’s from Adam.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the center of the table.

“This note was with it,” she continued, setting the note on the table in front of them.

Spencer picked up the small piece of paper and read it over multiple times, trying to figure out what exactly Adam was trying to say.

Aaron quickly began the briefing, standing at the end of the table with a stack of papers in his hands.

“This bouquet of flowers was sent to Y/N this morning by Adam Orozco. There was also a note attached that read, ‘The way things ended are not how they should have. Can we please try again?’,” he said.

“Does he know we’re onto him?” Emily asked.

“Possibly,” Rossi agreed. “He might think that if he can get Y/N back into his life it could help his cause. Having a relationship with someone in the FBI gives you a little more leeway than it would if you didn’t.”

“Or it could just be menacing,” Derek said. “This guy is a manipulative, narcissistic sociopath. He probably has some underlying threat in there.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Spencer agreed. “This note says, ‘The way things ended are not how they _should have_. He probably wanted to do to Y/N what he did to our victims, but she left before he got the chance.”

“And Y/N’s also too high profile in law enforcement,” Emily added. “If he would’ve done that to her, he knew he would’ve been caught within 24 hours.”

“We need to keep this guy on our radar,” Rossi said. “Do you still have his phone number, Y/N?”

She shook her head, “No.”

“We can get it from the D.C. Police Department,” Aaron said.

For the next few minutes, the team scrutinizes the flowers and the vase in an attempt to see if there is anything incriminating in or on the bouquet.

“Wait,” Derek said, grabbing the flowers and pulling them out of the vase. He set them on the table and reached inside where another piece of paper was floating in the water. “What the hell is this?”

He furrowed his eyebrows as he pulled out the Ziploc bag the paper was in and opened it carefully before pulling out the small scrap.

“You know what I can do and I know that scares you,” he read aloud, furrowing his eyebrows and looking to Y/N.

She felt the burning stares of the team on her and she wanted to cower back into her seat. Of course she knew what he could do, but it didn’t really scare her until everyone had looked at her so worriedly.

“We need to take protective measures. Y/N, you need to stay with one of us until this situation plays itself out,” Aaron said.

“Would you be comfortable staying with me?” Spencer asked. “I know we haven’t spent a night with each other so if you aren’t, you don’t need to feel bad about it.”

She gave him a half smile, “Would _you_ be comfortable with it?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’d love to, then,” she said.

When the end of the day rolled around, Y/N followed Spencer into the parking lot, their fingers laced together loosely. After saying quick goodbyes to all of their teammates, she drove home to pack an overnight bag before following Spencer to his apartment. As she drove she subconsciously checked every car she was able to, just to make sure that Adam hadn’t started following her - him knowing where Spencer lived was information she never wanted him to have.

“Wow, you keep it really clean in here,” she said, the surprise in her tone making Spencer chuckle.

“Did you expect me to be a slob?” he asked, a smirk gracing his lips as he shut and locked the door behind them.

“No, never,” she replied, mirroring his smirk and wrapping her arms around his neck.

She stood on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips and smiled when she felt his hands on her waist. He pulled back and pressed one more kiss to her lips.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Starving,” she said.

He smiled and traced his fingers over the fabric of her shirt, “How about I make us dinner?” he offered. “You can put your things wherever you’d like and relax.”

She furrowed her eyebrows and smiled, “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said. “After all the stress you’ve been through these past couple days it’d be nice for you to relax.”

She shook her head and smiled up at him, “You’re too good to me,” she said.

“Not at all,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss to the tip of her nose.

The sheets and blankets on top of Spencer’s bed were soft and warm - it reminded her so much of him. The way they felt when they were draped around her body is how she felt when his arms were around her.

Her body was wrapped in his underneath the blankets while his fingers subconsciously traced patterns along her thigh. She could feel his chest moving as he breathed in and out against her back and it was such a comforting feeling she knew she could fall asleep any second.

Y/N let out a sigh and turned in his arms, looking into his rich, brown eyes that made her melt. If she was allowed to, she would look into them all day.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Spencer asked, adjusting his body with her so his arms were wrapped around her body comfortably.

“I just want to start over,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I want to go somewhere with you and not have to worry about anything. I wish all of this could be over and we could just _live_ together and have no cares in the world,” she explained.

“Is that your way of saying you want to move in?” he smirked.

“No, no. I just… I just want us to live our lives together, you know?” she replied, flustered while her cheeks turned rosier.

He smiled and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “I know. And in all seriousness, I think we chose the wrong profession if that’s something we want.”

She chuckled and nodded, “You’ve got that right.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, though. I love… the way our relationship is going and I wouldn’t change a thing for the world,” he added, making her smile.

“I love it too,” she said, nuzzling her face into his neck. “And I wouldn’t change a single thing either.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her tighter when he turned on his back so she could lay on his chest. There was a content silence that filled the air around them before Y/N spoke up again.

“You’re comfortable,” she said.

Spencer chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “Thank you. You are too.”

She smiled and looked up at him once more before pressing a gentle kiss to his neck and snuggling tighter against his body. Within minutes both could feel themselves drifting off into the most comfortable sleep they’ve had in months.


	9. Conspiracy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not the happiest of times, but there is some fluff and funny stuff thrown in just to keep everybody from feeling absolutely glum! :)
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! <3 :)

Walking into work the following morning was an interesting experience. It was the first time Y/N and Spencer had driven together given it was the first time they’d spent the night together. Their fingers were laced together as they approached their desks and Derek wasted no time inserting himself into the situation.

“Well would you look at this happy, adorable couple?” he smirked, clapping Spencer on the back as they walked past him.

Y/N smiled and made her way to her own desk while Spencer turned on his computer.

“You seem happier than usual this morning,” Emily said as she approached Spencer’s desk, noticing the smile that was plastered on his face.

He shrugged his shoulders, “I guess even with all of the things that are going on, I can say that I’m really lucky to be in the position I’m in.”

“How so?” she asked, holding her coffee mug between her hands as she waited for it to cool.

He stood up straight after his computer had powered on, “Well,” he said as he started walking into the break room, Emily following alongside him.

“I have a stable job that I love, I have the most amazing girlfriend and I have no complaints about either. Even though we’re under a lot of stress right now I know that we’re going to get through it,” he said.

Emily smiled and watched as Spencer made himself a cup of coffee, “I’ve never seen you so optimistic before.”

He shrugged and began adding sugar and cream to his cup, giving her a smile of his own.

“Wow,” Derek said as he walked in the break room. “Reid’s drinking coffee? Haven’t seen you do that in a while.”

Spencer chuckled and stirred his drink, adding a little bit more sugar, “I need a little extra energy today.”

“Oh, someone had a long night?” Derek asked with a smirk.

Emily groaned and rolled her eyes, taking a drink from her mug.

“Early morning, actually,” Spencer smirked, turning to face Derek.

The look of pride on Derek’s face made Spencer smile and the sound of approval he had made after Spencer held up two fingers made him laugh out loud.

“I didn’t need to know that. Now I know that,” Emily said, shaking her head and walking towards the door.

Spencer chuckled as he stirred his coffee with a spoon and glanced at Derek when he grabbed his own mug out of the cupboard.

“I’m proud of you, man, I feel like my little brother is growing up,” Derek said.

“You’re proud of me for having sex with my girlfriend?”

“Twice!” Derek exclaimed, making Spencer chuckle.

Emily smiled and left the room, placing a hand on Y/N’s arm before she could enter.

“Unless you want to hear about yours and Reid’s rendezvous this morning with Morgan’s comments, I’d keep from going in there for a while,” she said, making Y/N laugh.

“I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not,” she said, turning and walking in the opposite direction with Emily.

“How are the two of you doing aside from those _activities_?” Emily asked with a smile as they walked into the conference room.

“Really good,” Y/N smiled, taking a seat beside Emily as they waited for everyone to enter the room. “I can tell he’s worried about what’s going on, but he doesn’t want to show it too much.”

Emily nodded.

“And he’s just so sweet and supportive and loving and handsome and kind…” Y/N trailed off with a sigh, making Emily smile.

“I like seeing this for both of you,” she said, thinking back to what Spencer had told her earlier. “I think you two are really good for each other.”

Y/N smiled and felt a blush forming over her cheeks, “Thank you, Emily. That’s really sweet.”

Emily smiled and nodded, turning her head as the rest of the team began to enter the room.

“Good morning, everybody. I hope you all had a decent night. We have a few things to talk about regarding the Orozco case that have come to light so I’ll be giving the floor to Garcia and she can go over everything that she’s found out,” Aaron said, stepping back and giving Penelope room to set all of her evidence down.

“Thank you, boss man and hello to my little angel babies. I come with some news regarding our suspect,” Penelope said, setting down a few files on the table in front of her.

Spencer placed a hand on Y/N’s knee and rubbed it comfortingly. She turned to him and smiled when their eyes met, the anxiety that was causing her leg to shake lessening as she held onto his hand.

“Now that we’ve lit a fire under the D.C. Police Department’s ass, they’re actually looking into the complaints filed towards Adam. After they started looking into the complaints, they began pulling body cam footage and found that he wasn’t just sexually aggressive towards our three current victims, but any prostitute he would pick up,” Penelope continued.

“He also doesn’t have a solid alibi for the nights of the murders. Adam told police that he was spending the evening with his girlfriend at the time, but when they asked _her_ , she said that he was out at a bar with friends on those nights. However, we checked the CCTV footage at the bar he claimed he was at and there is no sign of him there the entire night - not even in the parking lot. Basically, his alibi is toast.”

There was a brief pause in Penelope’s breakdown before she continued.

“He _did_ admit to being abusive towards ex-girlfriends to police when they asked him and Y/N’s name was brought up in that. He said, quote, I don’t know how she even got hired with the FBI when she’s basically a prostitute herself.”

Y/N nodded, “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

“Why did he say those things to you?” Derek asked.

“He didn’t like that I had been with other people before him,” she answered. “He said it made me a whore.”

Spencer rubbed circles against her knee as she continued speaking.

“I suspected he had bipolar disorder, but when I brought it up to him one day he lost control,” she said, not wanting to dive further into that memory.

Aaron nodded, “I’ve got the D.C. Police Department running search warrants on his apartment, personal laptop and cell phone. If anything suspicious comes up we’re going to have him brought in for questioning.”

After the briefing had concluded, everybody piled out of the room, but Y/N’s steps faltered when she noticed the large fruit bouquet on her desk in the same place the floral one had been the day before. She approached her desk and took the cardstock note from the top of the bouquet.

“Don’t eat that,” Emily said, hurrying over and grabbing the vase before anybody got any ideas.

Y/N read the note over and over again - hoping it would change into a message that was directed more towards her.

_Keep a close eye on Spencer_. 

“Are you okay?” Spencer asked, not having seen the note - only her reaction to it.

She shook her head, “No. He’s threatening you now and I don’t know what I can do to keep you safe.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to worry about me,” Spencer said. “I can take care of myself - I’ve been through far worse than a couple of empty threats.”

He was right and she knew he was right. That didn’t necessarily keep her from worrying about him, though.

“I just don’t want to be someone in your life who adds to any of the bad things you’ve had to go through. I’m worried you’re going to see that and realize how much baggage I have,” she explained, eyes dropping from his as she stared at the carpet squares beneath their shoes.

“Y/N,” Spencer said, regaining her attention when she looked back up into his eyes. “I accept any and all of the baggage you could possibly bring into this relationship. You want to know why?” he asked.

“Why?”

“Because you _knew_ how much baggage I had when we got into this relationship. My mother, my time in jail, my… condition,” he said, motioning towards himself. “And you accepted all of that.”

She shrugged, “Well yeah, that’s because I love you.”

The words had left her mouth before her brain had a chance to catch up with them and her eyes widened when she realized what she’d said. Spencer’s expression was difficult to read and it almost made her want to take back what she’d said. She knew she wouldn’t be able to even if she wanted to, though - she meant it and there was no taking that back.

“Do you really mean that?” he finally asked.

She nodded and gave him a small smile, “Yeah, I do.”

He didn’t give her much of a warning before pulling her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her waist as he held onto her. Y/N moved her arms to wrap around his neck during their embrace and buried her face against his chest.

“I love you too,” he whispered against the shell of her ear.

It wasn’t just the words he’d said that caused her heart to soar and tears to begin welling up behind her eyes - it was the _way_ he’d said them. They were so full of truth and meaning and _love_ … everything she knew she was supposed to have felt when she’d said it before, she felt for the first time in this moment.

Seconds later, they pulled back from their tight embrace and Spencer leaned down, pressing a kiss to her lips. The sound of someone clearing their throat beside them caused them to pull apart from each other.

“Oh, sorry, Hotch,” Y/N said, taking a step back from Spencer.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked after noticing her misty eyes.

“Surprisingly, yes,” she said with a nod.

Aaron nodded, “Adam Orozco is being brought in for questioning. After completing the search warrants we’re positive he’s our guy. He should be here any second now.”

Y/N’s eyebrows rose at his statement, but she nodded - none of it seemed real, but she knew the realization of it would kick in when she saw him handcuffed to the interrogation table.

“You okay?” Spencer asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She nodded and looked up at him, “I am.”


	10. Throwing Punches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one so get your snacks ready! ;)

Derek sighed as he stood across the table from Adam, using his hands to brace himself at the end of the table. It took a lot of strength for Derek to not punch Adam in the face after hearing about the way he’d treated Y/N.

The rest of the team stood on the other side of the two-way mirror, watching as Derek continued to try and get information out of Adam.

“I want to talk to Y/N. I’ll tell her everything you guys want to know,” Adam said with a shrug.

“That’s not going to happen,” Derek said, eyes narrowing slightly at the smirk Adam was giving him.

“You’ve always been so protective of her, Derek… I was worried at one point you were going to try to get with her while she and I were together,” Adam said.

“Okay?”

Adam sighed and looked around the room in a way that made it seem as if he was bored with the situation he was currently in.

“Let me talk to Spencer.”

“Why Spencer?” Derek asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“He’s the only person I’ll talk to besides Y/N,” Adam said. “Or you can just sit here in silence with me, I don’t mind that either.”

Derek sighed and stood up straight, “Hold on,” he said, walking through the door and shutting it behind him.

“What do you think, Hotch?” Derek asked, running a hand over his eyes and rubbing his temples - it was clear he was frustrated with Adam.

Aaron let out a quiet sigh and turned to Spencer, “Are you good to go in there?” he asked.

Spencer took in a quick breath through his nose, “Yeah,” he answered with a nod.

Y/N reached beside her and took his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. He smiled and leaned down, pressing a kiss to her forehead before heading towards the door that led into the interrogation room.

“Ah, Doctor Spencer Reid,” Adam said as Spencer closed the door behind him. “That’s got a nice ring to it. Does Y/N like that title you’ve got?” he continued, a condescending smirk on his lips.

“We’re not talking about Y/N right now,” Spencer answered, taking the seat across the table from Adam.

“Why not?” Adam asked. “Do you feel guilty for what you did?”

“I’m here to talk about Shara Williams, Tamiko Nguyen and Vanessa Graham,” Spencer deflected, folding his hands on top of the table.

Adam nodded, “The prostitutes… you could have included Y/N’s name in there too.”

Spencer began to shake his foot underneath the table - keeping his composure calm while he continued to speak with Adam.

“We’re not talking about Y/N right now; we’re talking about the reason you were brought in here today.”

“I want to talk about Y/N first,” Adam said, leaning forward slightly, “Then I’ll talk about those other girls.”

Spencer let out a quiet sigh and the same condescending smirk worked its way back onto Adam’s lips. There was an eerie silence in the room that filled the atmosphere before Adam continued speaking.

“Can I tell you a little secret?” he asked as he leaned in closer towards Spencer.

Spencer folded his arms across his chest and leaned further away from Adam before shrugging his shoulders. There was no reasoning with a narcissistic sociopath and Spencer knew he would just have to listen if he wanted to get any information out of him.

“Do you remember those days when Y/N would come into work wearing makeup? That’s something she never does, right?” Adam asked, scrutinizing Spencer’s facial features to see if there was any kind of reaction to anything being said. “Well, the reason she did is because she didn’t want you to find out anything.”

“Find out anything about what?” Spencer knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Adam say it - the more Adam said, the more possible charges he could have against him. Even though it killed him to hear the details of her abusive past, Spencer knew how helpful it would be for this case.

“I’ll admit, sometimes I got a little mad and sometimes it was hard for me to control it,” Adam said with a nod and shrug of his shoulders. He shook his head and began to chuckle, “She would have so many bruises that she would be trying to cover up.”

Spencer could feel his heartbeat accelerating as Adam continued.

“And she would be so scared that you were going to see them because she knew that you would know I was the one who gave them to her.”

After a quick breath in through his nose, Spencer unfolded his arms and rested them on the table, “I had my suspicions,” he said with a nod.

The smile that spread across Adam’s face was one that belonged in a psychological thriller movie - there was no remorse for his actions that was visible at all.

“I knew you would,” Adam said. “Because you’re smart. That’s why you’re a  _ doctor _ .”

“You do realize you’re being questioned about the murders of three women, none of whom are Y/N, right?” Spencer asked, the annoyance in his tone not lost on anybody.

The tone he’d used, however, triggered something in Adam and his defensive state rose as he responded.

“Yeah and if it was my way, she’d be on that list with them,” Adam said, eyebrows furrowed. “Should’ve killed her too,” he muttered, fists clenching on the table.

“How exactly did you murder those women?” Spencer asked, feeling successful for finally getting somewhere with getting Adam to talk.

Adam let out a quick chuckle, “Come on, Spencer, you’re not stupid. You saw the crime scene photos. You know what I did.”

“Elaborate, please,” Spencer said, motioning towards Adam to give him the floor.

Adam shrugged and leaned back in his chair slightly, “They wouldn’t look at me so I grabbed ‘em,” he began, grabbing onto his own chin as a demonstration. “The only reason I had to be a little rough like that was because they kept trying to look away - they were fighting me. I needed to stop them from fighting me so I would knock them out. They were really stupid too - trying to get into a relationship when they were fucking  _ prostitutes _ ?”

“Why was that something  _ you  _ were so concerned with?” Spencer asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I’m trying to help other people out there who are in my position,” Adam explained. “Come on,  _ Doctor _ , you know you can’t turn a hoe into a housewife.”

“How did you know that’s what they were wanting?”

“Don’t play dumb, Spencer, you know I wasn’t talking about those three girls,” Adam said.

“Okay…” Spencer began. “How do you know that’s what Y/N wants?”

Adam shrugged, “She would say that she didn’t know whether or not she wanted to get married and she knew that she didn’t want kids, but  _ I knew _ she was kidding herself. Women  _ always  _ say that when they’re as young as she is. Hell, I think she’s younger than  _ you _ , which is impressive, isn’t it?” he asked.

“What are you trying to say?” Spencer asked. Adam had gone off on so many tangents it was unclear what he was actually trying to say.

“Don’t get too caught up with her, man. She’s nothing. A guy like you, a  _ doctor _ , can surely do better than her.”

Spencer kept himself from rolling his eyes, which took much more effort than he thought it would.

“How did you strangle those three women?” he asked.

Adam chuckled, “Since you let me talk I guess I can tell you. Vanessa was my first one - I came up behind her, chloroformed her, and tied a rope around her neck and kept tightening it until I knew she was knocked out. Then I put her in the back seat of my truck and went back to my apartment. I wanted to know why she thought it was okay to be in a relationship with someone after being a  _ prostitute _ . She’s all used up and nobody wants to introduce their family to their girlfriend, the fucking whore,” he spat.

“How long were you stalking these women before you decided to attack them?” Spencer asked.

“I knew of them when I arrested them - around six months ago,” Adam said.

“Did you do the same thing to Tamiko and Shara?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah, except I didn’t use a rope for them, I just used my hands.”

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows, “How was there no DNA of you on them if you used your hands?”

“Gloves. C’mon, Spencer, I’m not a rookie,” Adam said, almost sounded offended.

“And that rope that you used to strangle Vanessa - was it the same one that we found in the bed of your truck?” Spencer asked.

Adam nodded, “Yeah, probably.”

Spencer nodded and stood from his seat, the legs dragging against the cement floor beneath them. “Thank you for your time.”

“Thank you, Doctor Spencer Reid,” Adam said, his tone condescending as Spencer walked towards the door to leave the interrogation room. It took everything in Spencer to not turn around, grab Adam by his collar and throw him against the wall. He knew that would compromise the entire interview, though.

Spencer shut the door behind him and immediately looked for Y/N, wanting to make sure that she was okay. Y/N rushed towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding onto him tightly.

“Are you okay?” she asked against his shoulder.

“Yeah. Are  _ you  _ okay?” he asked, pulling back from their hug, but leaving his arms around her waist.

She smiled and stood on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips as her response. When she pulled away she ran her fingers through his hair, momentarily forgetting that there were five other people in the room with them.

“You did amazing in there,” she said, motioning towards the two-way mirror.

“Yeah, you did really good, Reid,” Rossi agreed, clapping him on the back.

“Nice job, man,” Derek echoed the previous compliments, slapping his hand on Spencer’s shoulder.

Spencer smiled at his teammates and looked to Aaron when he approached them. He moved his arms from Y/N and straightened his jacket.

“That was a great interrogation you did - good job keeping your demeanor,” Aaron said. “Both of you go take a break,” he added, looking between Spencer and Y/N.

On the uncomfortable futon in the break room, Y/N and Spencer sat beside each other, his arm around her shoulders while she rested against his side. They were silent for a few minutes, both taking time to sink in the situation Spencer had just been in.

“I’m so sorry that you went through that,” he said.

Y/N looked up at him and held onto his hand that was wrapped around his shoulders.

“You don’t have to apologize for anything,” she said. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should’ve never been with him in the first place.”

“Don’t apologize for that - you didn’t know how awful of a person he is,” Spencer said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “At least now you know how good you have it with me.”

Y/N giggled and nodded, “You’re right. I wish I would’ve known that before I met him.”

“Yeah, why’d you keep blowing me off for that guy?” he smirked.

She chuckled and shook her head, “Because I didn’t think you’d like me.”

Spencer looked at her for a moment to make sure that she was being serious before he said anything.

“Y/N you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life, you’re kind and you care about people,” he began. “And we have always gotten along really well - from the first day we met I knew we’d be close. Why would you think that I didn’t like you?”

She shrugged, “I knew that you liked me as a  _ friend _ , but I didn’t think you’d like me as anything more.”

“Did I do or say something to make you feel that way?” he asked.

“No, no,” she responded quickly, wanting to make sure he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. “It was just my own insecurity. You’re so smart, Spencer, and I thought that you’d get bored being with someone like me because I wouldn’t be able to understand every reference you brought up or every person in history you were talking about.”

He gave her a small smile, “I understand your insecurity even though I promise you there’s no reason you should have it,” he said.

She smiled and reached up to run her fingers over the slight stubble on his jawline.

“The same could be said on my end, too,” Spencer added. “I don’t know every celebrity or movie or television show you bring up. And I was worried you’d think I was too weird to be with.”

“I never thought about that,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about that, babe, I always love hearing about everything you know.”

Spencer smiled and leaned down, pressing a kiss to her lips, “I love you,” he muttered after pulling away.

“I love you too,” she smiled, pulling his lips against hers once more.

The sound of footsteps against the tiled floor caused them to pull away from each other and look behind them where Aaron was approaching them. He took a seat on the chair beside the futon and cleared his throat.

“The DA wants to expedite this case,” he said. “We’ve got about a month before it goes to trial, but they’re wanting to know if you’re willing to testify against Adam, Y/N.”

The question wasn’t one that surprised her - it made sense that the Special Agent in the FBI would be asked to testify against her ex-boyfriend who admitted to murdering three people.

“Can I think about it for a bit?” she asked.

Aaron nodded, “Of course. Do you think you’ll be able to get back to me by the end of the day tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” she nodded.

“Perfect, thank you,” he said, standing up from the chair. “And good job again, Spencer. That was really well done detective work earlier.”

“Thank you, Hotch,” Spencer smiled.

The sound of Aaron’s footsteps retreating echoed until he’d reached the carpeted floor outside of the room.

Spencer sighed and looked to Y/N, “We should probably get back to work.”

“Can I just hold you for a few more minutes, please?” she asked, looking up at him with her big, beautiful eyes that he couldn’t say ‘no’ to.

“Absolutely,” he smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips before she nuzzled her face against his neck and closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to sink into him.


End file.
